The Politics of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in the Television Series House (Collection)

full name / name of organization:

Ritch Calvin . SUNY Stony Brook

contact email:

rcalvink@ic.sunysb.edu

CALL FOR PAPERS (Book Collection)
The Politics of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in the Television Series House

Essays are invited for a collection of essays on the television series House. The series, starring Hugh Laurie as a skilled but misanthropic doctor, began its run in the fall of 2004. Now in its sixth season (2009-2010), the series was the “most watched” series in 2008. Principally set in Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, the series features Gregory House, who heads a team of diagnosticians, who take on the most difficult and perplexing cases. Initially, his diagnostics team was composed of Dr. Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison), Dr. Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer), and Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps). In subsequent years, his team shifts to include Dr. Remy Hadley (Olivia Wilde), Dr. Lawrence (Choudray) Kutner (Kal Penn), and Dr. Chris Taub (Peter Jacobson). Two other principal characters are House’s best friend, the oncologist Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), and the hospital administrator and Dean of Medicine Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein).
As with any television series, a critic might approach House from many perspectives. This volume proposes to examine the House—overall and through close readings of specific episodes—in relation to other medial comedy and dramatic series and the ways in which it treats gender, race, class, and sexuality, in its characters, character interactions, and story lines. Essays might compare and contrast the ways in which House represents questions of racial, gender, and sexual identity, though they may also examine those issues solely in relation to House. Because the series is both critically and popularly successful, what it says about these issues is significant and reveals something about what we as a culture think about them.
The book is under contract; all submitted essays will go through a blind review process before inclusion in the volume.

Final essays should not exceed 7,000 words. They must conform to MLA standards for manuscripts and citations.

Please send submissions via e-mail (as Word .doc, .docx, or .rtf files) or snail-mail (hard copy and CD-R with .doc, .docx, or .rtf file). Deadline for submissions is May 7, 2010. Earlier inquires and abstracts are welcome, but completed manuscripts are due May 7.